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On Monday EST, at the WWDC 2024 conference, Apple finally revealed its long-awaited artificial intelligence strategy. In this hot “AI arms race” that has taken the world by storm, Apple can be described as long overdue.

In Tuesday's intraday session, Apple rose more than 3% and is now approaching the $199 mark.

Since this year, Apple's stock price has lagged far behind the rise in the US stock market, and far inferior to Wall Street's AI darling led by Nvidia. The performance of the stock price reflects various concerns about the company's competitiveness and regulatory pressure. Before the press conference began, Wedbush analysts said, “This year's WWDC is Apple's most important event in more than a decade, and putting pressure on developers and consumers to use generative artificial intelligence technology is paramount.”

At the press conference, Apple announced the launch of a new AI system called Apple Intelligence as scheduled, and announced the establishment of a partnership with OpenAI. However, Tesla CEO Musk posted multiple posts expressing dissatisfaction, saying that if Apple integrates OpenAI at the OS level, Apple's devices will be banned by his company, which is an unacceptable security violation.

After experiencing the failure of automobile research and development, the market is desperate to understand. Can Apple take back a city in the AI process this time?

Amid thousands of calls, Apple finally announced “Apple Intelligence (Apple Intelligence)”

At WWDC 2024, Apple announced the launch of a new AI system called Apple Intelligence. According to Apple, Apple Intelligence is a personalized intelligent system with built-in large language models that allow iPhone, iPad, and Mac to understand and generate language and images, and simplify the process of interacting across multiple apps.

The generative AI model behind Apple Intelligence will be free to use on iOS, iPadOS, and macOS, with the following key features:

• Context-driven notifications: Apple Intelligence can identify which notifications are important to the user's personal context.

• Writing improvements: Apple Intelligence will introduce system-wide proofreading and style improvements in third-party and native apps.

• Image generation: Apple Intelligence can create generated photos based on a user's image library, similar to some other platforms. There are three styles: sketch, illustration, and animation.

• Cross-app tasks: Apple Intelligence can dive deep into a user's application and perform tasks on the user's behalf. Federighi, for example, can require Apple Intelligence to extract files sent by contacts within a specific period of time.

• Focus on personal situations: Apple Intelligence can take advantage of a user's entire activity or what's on the screen. For example, users can ask it if the transfer of a meeting would cause the user to be late.

• Private cloud computing: Apple Intelligence will use a cloud-based model on special servers using Apple chips to ensure the privacy and security of user data. Apple said that if a user's request needs to be sent to a cloud server, Apple Intelligence will only send limited data in an “encrypted” secure manner.

The new Siri is also supported by Apple Intelligence. Apple says Siri can answer “thousands” of questions about how to use iPhones, iPads, and Macs.

In fact, in collaboration with OpenAI, Musk posted multiple posts and raged: betraying user data!

Another point of concern is that Apple also collaborated with OpenAI at the WWDC conference, which is no surprise to the outside world. In this collaboration with OpenAI, Apple will use GPT-4O. Apple users can use ChatGPT for free without creating an account, while ChatGPT subscribers can link accounts and access paid features. However, Musk, who has always been sharp, gave up face and posted multiple posts on the X platform accusing Apple of collaborating with OpenAI to “sell user data.”

Musk said, “It's obviously ridiculous that Apple isn't smart enough to make its own AI, but it thinks it can ensure that OpenAI protects your security and privacy! Once you hand over your data to OpenAI, Apple doesn't know what really happened. They're betraying you.”

Musk also said, “If Apple integrates OpenAI at the operating system level, then Apple devices will be banned from being used by my company. This is an unacceptable security violation. And visitors have to check their Apple devices at the door and store them in Faraday cages.”

In addition to commenting, Musk also sent an ironic emoji pack to taunt Apple Intelligence for leaking user data to OpenAI.

It was no wonder that the onlookers were excited. Under Musk's post, they frantically “ask for updates” — urging Musk to schedule Tesla phones.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman calmly stated, “We are very excited to partner with Apple to integrate chatgpt into their devices later this year! I'm sure you'll love it.”

Netizens commented on this: “A company with a market capitalization of trillions of dollars (Apple) was unable to develop the best AI features, so it is really sad and sympathetic to cooperate with OpenAI. The death of Jobs was the beginning of Apple's fall...”

Notably, OpenAI may not be Apple's only big model partner. Apple officials also said that Apple will increase support for other AI models in the future. Earlier, news broke that Apple is discussing cooperation with Google to integrate the Gemini model.

Will new AI features boost iPhone sales? Analysts have mixed opinions

In the past six quarters, Apple's revenue declined for five quarters, partly due to sluggish iPhone sales. The problem is not alone. Apple is facing investigation by the US Department of Justice and the European Union for violating antitrust laws by monopolizing the smartphone market and using its control to carry out anti-competitive acts.

Amidst internal and external concerns, many investors expect the launch of Apple Intelligence to boost iPhone sales and become a new boost to Apple's stock price increase. In response, Evercore ISI analyst Amit Daryanani said that including the iPhone Pro 15, it will still drive iPhone “supercycle” sales starting this year. He stated:

Limiting Apple Intelligence to iPhones sold last year makes us more convinced that AI can help launch the iPhone supercycle.

Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives also said for the first time that the WWDC conference “did not disappoint” and that Apple smartphones “changed the rules of Apple's game”:

We believe Apple's artificial intelligence strategy will leverage its golden user base, and that its new artificial intelligence update will drive the development of the iPhone 16.

Ives also emphasized Apple's emphasis on privacy and its partnership with OpenAI, and he reaffirmed his buy rating for Apple stock.

However, many analysts also have different opinions. Analysts are nonchalant about Apple's consistent “toothpaste” style updates.

Forrester analyst Dipanjan Chatterjee (Dipanjan Chatterjee) said, “Nothing at this conference will push the Apple brand on the path we expected... Apple Intelligence will indeed please users in small but meaningful ways, but it only allows Apple to catch up with its peers, but not surpass them.” Chatterjee is pessimistic about boosting iPhone demand in the short term: “Perhaps the new upgraded version of Apple smart devices equipped with Siri technology can stop the recent sharp decline in Apple device revenue, but it will not be enough to attract a new group of followers.”

Guo Mingyi, the “analyst who knows Apple the most”, is also conservative. Today, he posted a brief review on Apple Intelligence on social media, affirming the design advantages of Apple Intelligence, but graciously stated that it was only “the icing on the cake” for investors:

Apple Intelligence fully demonstrates Apple's ecological integration and interface design advantages, and mainly emphasizes ease of integration (through in-app and between-app integration) and strengthening of existing applications. This is very practical for users, but it is only the icing on the cake (nice-to-have) for investors.

Investors are looking forward to seeing original and must-have (must-have) features. In addition, investors' concerns include whether Apple Intelligence cannot be simultaneously listed globally and whether the key selling points of integrated ChatGPT can be used in all major markets around the world.

Dear cowboys, what do you think of Apple's WWDC conference?

Do you think Apple Intelligence lives up to expectations?

How should Apple's future stock price be interpreted?

Let's discuss it in the comments section!